AN ANALYSIS OF NATURALISM AS REFLECTED IN THEODORE DREISER’S AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY
A THESIS
BY:
IRVAN S. SIMBOLON
REG. NO. 120705049
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA
MEDAN 2019
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UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA
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AUTHOR’S DECLARATION
I, IRVAN SUPARDI SIMBOLON, DECLARE THAT I AM THE SOLE
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THE TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS CONTAINS NO MATERIAL
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UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA COPYRIGHT DECLARATION
NAME : IRVAN SUPARDI SIMBOLON
TITLE OF THESIS : AN ANALYSIS OF NATURALISM AS
REFLECTED IN THEODORE DREISER’S
AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY
QUALIFICATION : S-1/SARJANA SASTRA
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Date : May 29th, 2019
vi UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to the Almighty, Jesus Christ, mankind‘s savior who loves me with His unconditional affection, holds my hand in every situations and blesses me with a great life that I can pass all problems in my life without changing and remove my faith in Him.
Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to those who have given me pray, advice, motivation, and help in accomplishing my thesis. They are:
1. My beloved parents, to whom this thesis is devoted, Rusman Simbolon and Osta br. Sinaga, who always pray for me everytime and for everything. Thank you for your support, motivation, prays, and all that you give to me till now. You are the treasure that I have. Thank you for eternal love, I cannot live without you. 2. My dear old brother Ricson Marjoel Simbolon, who always remind me to do this thesis. Thank you for your material support and moral lesson that you give to me. My dear young sisters, Exalanti E.S. br. Simbolon and Imelvin br. Simbolon. Thank you for praying for me during I do my thesis. 3. Dr.Siti Norma Nasution, M.Hum as my supervisor and Riko Andika Pohan, S.S, M.Hum as co-supervisor who have share their valuable ideas, times, guidance, and patience in process of completing this thesis. 4. Niel Maruli Tua, Cinio Steven Sinaga, Kristin Theresia Siregar, Mukhtar Hasan Hasibuan, who become a family for me, thanks for your presence in my life. I will never forget our friendship as long as I live. Also for all my friends in English Literature University of Sumatera Utara especially Class A 2012 that I cannot mention name by name, I will never forget you guys, may all us be succesfull in the future. 5. Dodie Hermawan Purba, Johannes Samosir, Ivo Nalatan Sitanggang, predi H. Siagian, Esti Sinaga, Exodus Sihombing, Andre Purba, who become my housemate for four years. Thanks for all the crazy day, laughs, supports, and favors that you give as I start to step in Medan. You are all the best. 6. To my dearest one, Eva M. Simanjorang, S.pd who become my motivator, inspirator, best friend, and the booster in my life. You are a precious gift from
vii UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA God and I am very grateful to have in my life. Thanks for everything that you give to me. Your patience makes me understand what love is. I cannot do this without you my love. 7. Last but not least, to all my friends and family that I cannot mention one by one. My heart will always mention you in my life.
Finally, may this thesis be worthwhile for all of the readers, may the grace and love of God be with us forever. Amin
Medan, May 2019
Irvan S. Simbolon
Reg. No. 120705049
viii UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ABSTRACT
This thesis entitled An Analysis of Naturalism as Reflected in Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy analyzing about naturalism, a literary term which states that there are powerful forces that control an individual. This novel tells about a man who failed to achieve his dream and ended up tragic because his inability to control the forces both from within and from outside of him. This thesis analyzes about the characteristics of naturalism that found in the novel. This thesis also analyzes about tragedy that happened to the main character as the effect of naturalism. The method of the analysis is descriptive qualitative method. As the result of the analysis, there are three characteristic of naturalism in the novel; those are determinism, frankness, and pessimism. The tragedy happened to the main character because his inability to control his nature and by the social circumstances that he cannot overcome.
Key Words: Naturalism, Characteristics, Tragedy
ix UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ABSTRAK
Skripsi ini yang berjudul An Analysis Of Naturalism As Reflected In Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy yang menganalisa tentang naturalism, aliran sastra yang menyatakan bahwa adanya kekuatan kekuatan yang menentukan tindakan seorang individu. novel ini bercerita tentang Seseorang yang gagal mencapai keinginannya dan malah berakhir tragis karena ketidaksanggupannya mengendalikan kekuatan-kekuatan baik dari dalam maupun dari luar dari nya. Thesis ini menganalisa tentang characteristic of naturalism yang terdapat pada novel. Thesis ini juga menganalisa tentang tragedy yang terjadi pada karakter utama sebagai effect dari naturalism. Teori yang digunakan dalam analisis ini adalah teori naturalism dan digabungkan dengan teori sosiologi sastra. Metode yang digunakan adalah metode descriptif kualitatif. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah, ada tiga karateristik yang terdapat pada novel yaitu determinisme, frankness, dan pessimism. Tragedy terjadi pada karakter utama karena ketidakmampuannya mengendalikan diri dan juga oleh karena keadaan social yang tidak bisa diatasi.
Kata Kunci: Naturalisme, Karakteristik, Tragedi
x UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ...... v
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION ...... vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ...... vii
ABSTRACT ...... ix
ABSTRAK ...... x
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... xi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study...... 1
1.2 Problems of the Study ...... 5
1.3 Objective of the Study ...... 5
1.4 Scope of the Study ...... 5
1.5 Significance of the Study ...... 6
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Realism ...... 7
2.2 Naturalism and Its Characteristics ...... 9
2.3 Tragedy as The Effect of Naturalism ...... 15
2.4 Sociology of Literature ...... 16
2.4 Previous Study ...... 18
2.5 Books Review ...... 19
CHAPTER III METHOD OF RESEARCH
3.1 Research Design ...... 21
3.2 Data and Data Source ...... 21
3.3 Data Collection ...... 21
3.4 Data Analysis ...... 22
xi UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND FINDING
4.1 Analysis…..………………….…………..………………………24
4.2 Findings….…………………….………..……….………………25
4.2.1 Characteristics Of Naturalism...... 24
4.2.2 Tragedy As The Effect Of Naturalism ...... 44
CHAPTER V CONLUSION AND SUGGESTION
5.1 Conclusion ...... 46
5.2 Suggestion ...... 47
REFERENCES...... 48
APPENDICES i. Auto’s Biography and Works ii. Summary
xii UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Environment has many effects in human life process. All the human actions and natures were obtained by the process of environment. Human was shaped by the natural forces. Human being always followed the current of an environment so that it would accepted them as a part of it. Unconciously, every steps and decisions which we did actually derived from our environment without any free will in doing it. At last, human action was shaped not as the result of the free will but mostly because of environmental power that influenced and forced human to act as it was.
Human natures and acts would changed relate to the environment that they were living in. These changes were the form of adaptation that happened unconsciously. Human has no power to resist or ignore those changes because on the other side, human has to follow it like or not to make them as a part of a milieu and of course human need it to reach their dream. If we choose to reject these changes, the environment would not accepted us as their part and we could lost our dream. Human life was confronted with different kind of environment and society. This differ was forced human to socialize and change relate to the condition of the society. Besides, we could not live in only one environment because our natural drives would lead us to find a new world.
As we found in our country, there were many people from a small town, most of young ages, moved to the big city without any experiences and skills.
1 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA They were expecting for a job with big salary which mean to a better life. Of course they have to faced a new environment that could be crueler than in the small town. They have to conform with the environment he worked or the society he lived. They could not refused the rules such as wearing a neat uniform, owning a laptop, using the latest type of smartphone, driving an expensive vehicle, or living in a luxury apartment. These kind of things would make them accepted in the society. It was not easy to reach all the pleasure they wanted. In order to pursue it, they often act out of their control like killing, hurting, and doing a violence to another. They were the beast to another people by their longing and desire.Yet it was often if the environment became an enemy in human life and it went worse because of our natural drives that pushed us to make decision. The environment destroyed their live and has no power to fight it. The environment brought them to a new world that never experienced before and destroyed them.
An example above where human was the victims of the environment and their own desires has became a tragedy in life. We cannot denied the fact that our wildness for pleasures would lead us to destruction to ourself and when we encountered obstacles in achieving it, we became cruel and uncontrolable then losing our humanity.
Environment was the most important part of the theory of naturalism.
Naturalists said that human was influenced by environmental force that determined them to act. In this theory, free will had never exist. Therefore, environment force would always defeated human life. no one could won to fight the nature. Actually, naturalism adopted the theory from philosphical determinism, which said that human life was governed by forces of heredity
2 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA andsurrounding environment. This determinism, became the main characteristic in naturalistitic work.
Tragedy, as an effect of environment,was a result that accepted by Clyde because of his inability to fight the power of environment and strength in his self.In this novel, the environment has an important influence in the life of the main character so that he could not defeated and eventually lead to tragedy in his life. Environment such as social force, economic force, and desires brought him to the end of the life. Clyde because his social environment became a police fugitive because he and his friend hit a girl when they came home from a party. He actually got what he wanted before, but his environment destroyed him.
In the end he was sentenced to death for killing his pregnant girlfriend. Clyde was the victim of his environment. His desire to gain wealth and pleasure brought him to destruction.
The condition exposed above is what the writer wants to discuss through the novel An American Tragedy which was written by Theodore Dreiser in 1925.
Dreiser was the outstanding American practitioner of naturalism whose novel explored the new social problems that had arisen in a rapidly industrializing
America. His novels and short stories provide a carefully detailed, often documented picture of his own American society, as he saw it. This America was industrialized, urban society which had developed as rapidly as huge fortunes (oil, meat, packing, steel railroad, speculation, etc) which supported it. Unfortunately, such rapid transformation of country was bound to carry with it the extremes of poverty, and Dreiser was not the stranger to the slums to the city he knew.
3 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Dreiser wrote many famous novels, such as An American Tragedy, Jennie
Gerhardt, Sister Carrie, and The „Genius‟. Dreiser‘s masterpiece, An American
Tragedy, which I want analyze, tells about a young man from a dirt-poor religious family who is eager to climb his self to a high level society. He decides to leave his family and takes menial jobs. Clyde finally goes to Lycurgus, New York, to meet his rich uncle and hoping for a place in his uncle‘s prosperous shirt factory.
In this factory, he meets Roberta Alden, a hardworking, pretty, vivacious young woman whose attraction to him matches his interest in her. After a few months of casual dating, the two become lovers and Roberta gets pregnant. In the meantime, however, Clyde has meet Sondra Finchley, a girl of wealth and social prestige, whose way of life represents everything of which he has ever dreamed. Infatuated with Sondra, but being pressured toward marriage by Roberta (who cannot obtain an abortion), Clyde feels himself in a trap. He tells Roberta about their marriage and plans a pre-wedding jaunt on one of these lonely lakes, choosing a boat that will easily to overturn, when Roberta tries to draw closer to Clyde in the boat, he pushes her back, causes her to lose her balance and fall into the water. Finally,
The court sentences him with death penalty in an electric chair.
The writer chooses An American Tragedy novel because its story relates to the condition of people nowadays where the environmental forces shape people to do things. Through this study, the writer hopes that the readers can find out and understand about naturalism and its aspects, as reflected in Theodore Dreiser‘s An
American Tragedy. The writer also hopes that this thesis can give information to the readers about the impact of environmental force which can be influence human nature. So that, the readers can be take more awareness in their life.
4 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 1.2 Problems of the Study
In this analysis, the writer is going to analyze the characteristics of naturalism that found in the novel. The writer also is going to analyze the event or circumstances that happened to the main characters through to the naturalism approach.
In connection to the title and problems contained in the background, there are two problems that can be raised in the study:
1. What are the characteristics of naturalism found in the novel?
2. How does the tragedy happen to the main character as the effect of
naturalism?
1.3 Objective of the Study
The objective of the study is a statement about the activities which are going to analyze or do based on the problem of the study. In this case, the writer has some objectives of the analysis as follow:
1. To find out the characteristics of naturalism in the novel.
2. To analyze the tragedy that happened to the main character as the
effect of naturalism
1.4 Scope of the Study
In doing this analysis, it is very important to restrict the subject which is going to analyze so that it will be more objective and clear. Therefore, the writer only focuses in finding the characteristics of naturalism in Theodore Dreiser‘s An
American Tragedy so that the writer comes to a conclusion. The writer also focusses to find the tragedy that related to the theory of naturalism. The writer is focuses on the text on the novel and derives most of quotation from it.
5 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 1.5 Significance of the Study
Theoretically, this significance of the study is to examine more in the theory of naturalism in literature scope. Moreover, this study can be an additional reference for the readers to understanding about naturalism in literature. And, the practically significance of this research is this research can be the sequential for the future research with same subject of analysis. Then this paper can improve the
English Diploma Student‘s interest in studying literature.
6 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Realism
Realism derives from the world ―real‖ which means to exist or happen. In general, realism has the meaning as the genre in literature which wants to talk with correctly and the real fact in life of human being. Realism developed in nineteenth century as opposed to romantiscm. Unlike romantiscm that portraits the life as it could be, more fantasy and imagination than the actual, realism focusses on the actualities of life, and truthfully treats the commonplace characters of everyday life. M.H Abrams (2005:303) in his book ―A Glossary of
Literary Terms‖ elaborates,
―Realistic fiction often opposed to romantic fiction. The romance is said to presence life as we would have it to be— more picturesque, fantasic, adventurous, or heroic than the actually; realism, on the other hand, is said to represent life as it really is. Realistic fiction is written to give the effect that it represent life and the social world as it seems to the common reader, evoking the sense that its characters might in fact exist, and that such things might well happen.‖
it is clear that the realist sets out to write a fiction which will give the illusion that it reflects life as it seems to the common reader.The realist‘ attempt to show imitation of life as it is. The characters are designated based on the reality.
Realism try to depict the life in related social condition so that the reader could see it as a picture of reality. Aziez (2010:39-40) stated that realists attempt to include the social life range which larger and more representative on their work.
7 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA According to Robert-Grillet (1971:83), realism is as an ideology which one with the other, a qualities which every ones believes belongs for themselves.
Realism is the term applied composition that aims at an interpretation of the actualities in any aspect of life, free from subjective prejudice, idealism, or romantic color.
The realist, in the other words, is deliberately selective in his material and prefers the average, the commonplace, and the everyday over the rarer aspects of the contemporary scene. His characters, therefore, are usually of the middle class or (less frequently) the working class–people withouthighly exceptional endowments, who live through ordinary experiences of childhood, adolescence, love, marriage, parenthood, infidelity, and death; who find life rather dull and often unhappy, though it may be brightened by touches of beauty and joy; but who may, under special circumstances, display something akin the heroism.
Howell (in Pizer 1990:4) defined realism as ―the truthful treatment of material.‖ A thoroughgoing realism involves not only a selection of subject matter but, more importantly, a special literary manner as well: the subject is represented, or ‗rendered‘ in such a way as to give the reader the illusion of actual experience.
The realistic writers often render ordinary people so richly and persuasively that they convince us that men and women really lived, talked, and acted in the way that they depict.
Some critics, however, use the term ―realist‖ more narrowly for writers who render a subject so as to make it seem a reflection of the casual order of experience, without too patently shaping it into a tightly wrought comic or ironic or tragic pattern. In this narrow sense, ―realism‖ is applied more exclusively, to
8 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA works such as William Dean Howell‘s The Rise Of Silas Lapham, Arnold
Sennet‘s novels about the ―Five Towns‖, and Sinclair Lewis‘ Main Street.
2.2 Naturalism and Its Characteristics
Naturalism is also known as extreme realism. Naturalism developed in the late of nineteenth century as an outgrowth of realism. Naturalism tried to be more realistic than realism in documentation of life. In other word, naturalism attempted to describe a fiction as natural as possible. Naturalism believed that human being were controlled by many powerful forces and determined their behaviour. Actually, realism became naturalism when it adopted philosophy of naturalistic determinism. Determinism is a philosophy denying the existence of free-will in the individual. Hugh Holman in his book ―A Handbook to Literature”
(1914: 124) stated that ―determinism is the belief that all apparent acts of the will were actually the result of causes which determined them.‖ These causes were come from nature and it became determinants in human behaviour. Determinism portrayed that all events are caused by things that happened before them and they have no real ability to make choices or to control what happened
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/determinism).
As it was named, the causes in naturalism were come from nature; world of objects, actions, and forces that would shape human behaviour. Razali Kasim in his book Aliran-Aliran Sastra (1999:37) said that ―naturalism tried to emphasize the power of environment and heredity toward human nature and behavior. These both effects are the intense power which control or influencing human being and make them weak. The environment is that person‘s surroundings. It is the people with whom a person associates; it is weather, climate and other geographic forces
9 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA including wealth, poverty, sickness, and health. Environment is also the influence of the family, the community, and nations. Heredity designates a quality or characteristic which individual inherits from his fore-father. It is a general temperament of a person such as hot tempered, calm, brutal, intelligent, remorseless and physical characteristic.
―Each person inherits compulsive instincts—especially hunger, the drive to accumulate possessions, and sexuality—and is the subjected to the social and economic forces in the family, the class, and the milieu into which that person is born.‖ (Abrams 2005: 304) The quotation above insisted that naturalism typically represent characters who are joint victims of their instinctual drives and of external sociological forces. It also shows the correlation between heredity and environment so that a person has no free-will in their life. From the basis of this interpretation, naturalists are interest to see the connection between of person‘s instinctive nature towards the whole situation around them.
Hugh Holman then continued that―the fundamental view of human beings which the naturalist takes is that of animals in the natural world, responding to environmental forces and internal stresses and drives, over none of which they have control and none of which they fully understand. The naturalist strives to be objective, even documentary, in the presentation of material; to be amoral in his or her view of the struggle in which human find themselves, neither condemning nor praising human beings for actions which they cannot control; to be pessimistic in his or her view of human capabilities—life, the naturalist seems to feel, vicious trap, a cruel game; to be frank and almost clinically direct in the portrayal of human beings as animal driven by fundamental urges—fear, hunger, sex; to be
10 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA deterministic in the portrayal of human actions, seing them as explicable in cause-and-effect relationship.‖
From the quotation above,it can be said that there is a force that human cannot resist such as internal stress and drives that influenced them in their behavior. In naturalism, as explained above, environment and internal stresses become the powerful things that influenced human being. Moreover, it can be said that environment is the strong enemy which always conquered human life.
Stephen Crene (in Perkins 2002:493) set out ―to show that environment is a tremendous thing in the world and frequently shapes lives regardless‖.
But how men being knocked by environment is reasonable. Besides it caused by the social discrepancy in environment, it is also because we have weakness in our mind and body. Donald Pizer (1993:20-21) in his book The
Theory and Practice of American Literary Naturalism said that naturalistic writers found that the poor in education, intellect and worldly goodsare indeed pushed and forced, that the powerful do control the weak, that few man can overcome the handicaps imposed upon them by inadequacies of body and mind, and that many men have instinctive needs that are not amenable to moral suasion or rational argument.‖ Then, Pizer found three important themes in naturalistic work. One such theme is that of the waste of individual potential because of the conditioning forces of life. ―The naturalistic tragic hero is a figure who potential for growth is evident but who fails to develop because of the circumstances of life. Another important tragic theme within naturalism arises out of the failure of comparatively ―succesful‖ but essentially undistinguished figures to maintain in a shifting, uncertain world the order and stability their require to survive. They are
11 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA wrenched by their desires or other uncontrollable circumstances from their grooved but satisfying path into the chaos of life outside. A third tragic naturalistic theme concerns the problem of knowledge. Knowledge is elusive and shifting in a naturalistic work.
Rachel Bowbly (in Beaumont 2010: XV) defines ―..., most notably in its french modulation into the ―naturalism‖ of the latter part of the century, with its posture exposing the dirtier realities that realism had itself failed to show.‖ A literary work should present life exactly as it is, without preachment, judgment, or embellishment. In this respect, naturalism is akin to realism. However, naturalism goes further than realism in that it presents a more detailed picture of everyday life. Whereas the realist writer omits insignificant details when depicting a particular scene, a naturalist writer generally includes them. They wants the scene to be as ―natural" as possible. The naturalist writer also attempts to be painstakingly objective and detached. Rather than manipulating characters as if they were puppets, the naturalist writer prefers to observe the characters as if they were animals in the wild and then report on their activity. Finally, naturalism attempts to present dialogue as spoken in everyday. Rather than putting
―unnatural" wording in the mouth of a character, the naturalist writer attempts to reproduce the speech patterns of people in a particular time and place.
Vernon L. Parrington (1927:1309) in his book “Main Current in American
Thought” found some characteristic in naturalism works, those are:
1. Determinism
Naturalism works tend to emphasize either biological or social-economic forces. The characters in naturalism were controlled by internal and external
12 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA forces that determined their behaviour. People act based on their need and necessity. External forces such as milieu, poverty, or anything that surrounded a man and internal force is a biological forces that person inherited from his forefather. Those forces will make a person became weak and helpless in his life.
No matter how hard they were trying to stay alive, it would be end to tragic life because the philosophy assumes that human is controlled by un-avoidable forces.
Hugh Holman (1924: 286) states:
―..Tended to emphasize either a biological determinism, with an emphasis on the animal nature of human being, particularly their heredity, portraying them as animals engaged in the endless and brutal struggle for survival, or a socioeconomic determinism, portraying them as a the victims of environmental forces and the products of social and economic factors beyond their control or full understanding.‖ From the quotation above, we can understand that naturalism is deterministic work, which portraying men as animal in cruel environment. None of them can understand these forces. Men are ruled by their inherit nature and by situation surrounding them. Determinism is a belief where characters do not have free will. Since human‘s life is controlled by his instinct or his passion or by his social and economic environment and circumstance, man is really not free and he is not able to determine his fate. All determinists believe in the existence of the will, but the will is often enslaved on account of different reasons. The strength of external forces (society, environment, and nature) and the internal forces (instinct and passion) that completely control man‘s life are believed to be the power of nature.
13 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 2. Frankness
Frank in the portrayal of human being as animal driven by fundamental urges—fear, hunger, and sex. the fundamental view of human beings which naturalist takes is that of animals in the natural world. Naturalism regarded as a dirty realism because it contains many negative side of life. Naturalism attended to show an accurate picture of everyday life that never mentioned before such as prostitution, sexual activity, and violation.
3. Pessimism
Naturalism is a pessimistic realism, with a philosophy that sets man in mechanical world and conceives of him victimized by that world. From much emphasis on animal impulses the naturalist may turn man into an animal. The low-grade character comes from devastating milieu and desiring to change that milieu to the end that men may achieve happiness. But the world is ruthless and to cruel to the character. A great will to change come to the mind of the character but the environment is too cruel. But the character is weak and has no moral lesson in the world.
Malcolm Cowley (1914:76) in his book “The Literary Situation” defined:
―Naturalism is pessimistic about the fate of individuals; it holds that there is no reward on earth or in heaven for moral actions, or punishment for vice.‖ Naturalism believed that fate has been predetermined before. No matter how hard people try to reach, it just ended to disaster. Because an individual lived in a deterministic work, controlled by forces and society, he will never get the dream he wanted.
14 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 2.3 Tragedy as The Effect of Naturalism
Tragedy is the most important theme in naturalistic works. Tragedy is happen because inability of the character to gain the better life. The character is trapped by circumstances, heredity, and environment that would lead him to the tragic life. Tragedy in naturalistic sense sets out the characters that are wrenched by their desires or by other uncontrollable circumstances from their grooved but satisfying path into the chaos of life. Donald Pizer stated that ―the naturalistic tragic hero was a figure whose potential for growth was evident but who failed to develop because of the circumstances of life.‖ So the tragedy in naturalistic work is influenced by the social environment and internal drives.
In “A History of American Letters”, W.F Taylor discusses a definition of tragedy used by naturalistic writers such as Dreiser. Taylor says that
Shakespearean and Greek tragedy dealt for the most part with the great and the powerful of the earth and with a human nature that was basically good and great.
―Naturalistic tragedy, however deals often with the obscure, the weak, the helpless; with those who from heredity or from circumstances are unable to cope with life. Moreover, the Nemesis which pursues this weaklings is not some external fate, as in Greek tragedy, or some equilibrium, inherent in the moral order, as in Shakespearean; it is rather a certain stupid blundering in the universe itself, which creates desires without the ability to gratify them, which blindly destroys with its left hand what it builds with its right, and whose automatic mechanisms are quite oblivious to the sufferings of the human mites with their cogs. Naturalistic tragedy, therefore, assumes not the importance but the insignificance of man; hence the scheme of life it portrays is bleaker and more depressing than that of Shakespearean.‖ (Taylor, 1936:374)
15 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA The tragedy in naturalistic work is a failure of an unimportant man in a cruel society. No matter how hard he tries to rise, he always be suffered and end to the tragic.
2.4 Sociology of Literature
Sociology of literature is derived from the term ‗sociology‘and ‗literature‘.
Sociology is derived from Greek word ‗Socius‘ (society) and ‗logos‘ (science) which means the study of all aspects of human and their relation in community
(Ratna, 2003:1). Basically sociology is a field of knowledge which concern about human act, human interaction to their environment and to other human. Through sociology people become get more understanding about human because people may figure out the way of human adaptation to the nature, the sociological mechanism of human and other things.
In general, object of sociology is society. A society is a group of humans or other organism of single species that is delineated by the bounds of cultural identity, social solidarity, functional and others. Sociology tries to explain the origin of growth and structure of society. Sociology helps in understanding society, its various institutions of human relationships and its manifestation of man‘s social interaction and socialization. From the definitions above, it can be conclude that there are three views of what sociology is. i.e. sociology is the science of society, a study of relationships and a study of the form of social relationship.
Likewise sociology, literature also deals with human being in society.
Wellek and Warren (1977 :94) stated,
16 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Literature is a social institution, using as its medium language, a social creation. Such traditional literary devices as symbolism and meter are social in their very nature. They are conventions and norms which could have arisen only in society. But, furthermore literature represent ―life; and ―life‖ is, in large measure, a social reality even though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual have also been object of literary ‗imitation‘. From the definition above, it can be said that literature is a reflection of society. Through literature, the author reveals the problems of life. Literary works influenced by society and of course literary works also give the impacts to the society.
Literature presents the picture of life and life is a social reality. Nowadays, the ideas of literary works are pictures of humans at the time. Many authors express their idea about society through literary works. It means that literature is the portrayed of human‘s life in various aspect of the social structure, kinship, class conflict and others. Literary work become the picture of society, the expression of social reality and become the tools to show hidden things in life that may not acceptable in our society. Literature, like sociology, critically examines the realistic picture of human life, so it has been called as the mirror and controller of society.
Sociology of Literature is a branch of literary study that examines the relationships between literary works and theirs social context, including patterns of literary, the readers, modes of publication, social class position of authors and readers. The Sociology of literature becomes a specialized area of study which focuses its attention upon the relation between a literary work and the social structure in which it is created. It studies the social production of literature and its
17 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA social implications. It reveals that the existence of a literary creation has determined social situations as there is a reciprocal relationship between a literary phenomena and social structure. The relationship between literature and society is a two way, it influences society and gets influenced by the society.
There are three classifications of sociology of literature. Wellek and
Warren (1977:84) suggest the classification as follows ;
First, the author which discusses about social status, social ideology and everything which is related with the author as literary creature. Second, Literary work which discuss about literary work itself, the object of study is an implicit meaning in literary work and its purpose. The third, literary readers, which discuss about the reader and its social influence.
2.4 Previous Study
This study takes some previous studies that have similarities on the subject of the analysis, naturalism, to support the writer on analyzing the novel. first thesis by Imelda Gustia (2008) “The Elements of Naturalism in Theodore
Dreiser‟s Jennie Gerhardt” from Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU). This thesis discussed about naturalism that found in the novel. Jennie Gerhardt is one of best naturalistic novel written by the greatest naturalist, Theodore Dreiser. This thesis found the elements of naturalism in the novel such as determinism, elaborate details, accidentalness and causes, and tragedy. This thesis help the writer to analyse the naturalistic novel and how to find the characteristics of naturalism in the novel.
18 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Second thesis that the writer use is by Erni Yusriana (2003) entitled
―Naturalism As Reflected in Stephen Crane‟s Short story The Open Boat” from
Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS). This thesis discussed about the naturalistic element using theory of structuralism. She explained the theme, plot, character and personality of the character then found the element of naturalistic in it. This thesis help the writer to understand deeper the naturalistic style. The writer gets more knowledge about how to found the element of naturalistic in the story.
The third is a thesis from Yusiana Reginanita (2012) entitled ―The
Aspects of Naturalism in Stephen Crane‟s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets” from
Univesitas Negeri Yogyakarta (UNY). This thesis also discuss the aspects of naturalism and to prove whether the novel is naturalistic or not. To find the problem, she uses the theory of structuralism. She finds some aspect of naturalism such as determinism, pessimism, objectivity, and unpredictable ending (tragedy).
This analysis is very helpful for the writer because the detailed of the analysis.
This thesis also helps the writer to understand the naturalistic novel and how to find its aspect.
2.5 Books Review
In analyzing this thesis, the writer collected some books that related to the object of research. The using of books are very important because the writer cannot come to conclusion if the writer using the wrong book. The books that the writer uses to analyze this thesis are:
1. Main Currents in American Thought by Vernon Louis Parrington (1927). This book contains many literature movements in the American history, especially
19 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA realism and naturalism. This book also mentioned the novelist who produced the work in every current. related to this thesis, this book wrote deeper understanding about naturalism in American fiction by mentioning the criteria of naturalism and naturalist who wrote the best work. This book help the writer to know about the development of naturalism in American. The writer get some additional knowledge by mentioned the condition of American in that era.
2. The Theory and Practice of American Literary Naturalism by Donald Pizer
(1993). This book helps the writer to understand the phases in American
Naturalism. This book also contain many useful information by the reviewing the novel of naturalistic style. So the writer uses this book for additional reference in understanding naturalism. By the review, the writer gets more ways to analyze this thesis.
3. A Handbook to Literature by Hugh Holman (1914). This book wrote many terms that often used in literature. From this book, the writer gets more understanding about the term in literature such as determinism and tragedy.
4. A Glossary of Literary terms by M.H Abrams (2015). The content of this book are very large through literature by mentioned all the terms in literary history, current, and style. The writer uses this book as additional book to understand the theory of naturalistic and its period in American and Europe.
5. A History of American Letters by W.F. Taylor (1936). This book explained the entire stream in the American writing and inclusive explanation of naturalism.
The writer uses this book as a secondary source in analyzing the novel. By this book, the writer found much important information that useful to examine the theory of naturalism.
20 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER III
METHOD OF RESEARCH
3.1 Research Design
In the process of writing this thesis the writer used descriptive qualitative method. Descriptive qualitative method is a method of analysis by describing and analyzing the data and then giving interpretation and explanation. Hancock et. al.
(2009:6) said that qualitative descriptive method is a kind of research method focuses on descriptions and interpretations, concerned with developing of social phenomena. In order to find the data as reference of this writing this thesis, I applied library research and internet research. I collected data from some books, internet, journal and many other resources that can be related to the subject matter being analyzed.
3.2. Data and Data Source
In collecting the data, the writer read the novel several times in order to get more understanding about the novel, underlined the important parts of the novel related to naturalism and the characteristics of naturalism. There are secondary data that are gathered from several books which are related to the topic of this thesis. I collected the data which give understanding with the problem and objective of this thesis. Some of data and information are also found from the internet to support the analysis data.
3.3 Data Collection
When all the data and information related to the topics of this study are collected then data will be selected. The data will be selected and only the
21 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA significant data are used in the process of finishing this thesis. The data will be selected related to the topic naturalism and the characteristics.
3.4 Data Analysis
The technique the writer applied to analyze this novel is qualitative descriptive method. Qualitative descriptive method is method of analysis by describing and analyzing the data then giving interpretation and explanations. All the collected and selected data which are related to the topics are analyzed to achieve the objective of this thesis. The writer makes interpretation based on the data which have already been taken and finally the writer can draw the conclusion for this thesis.
22 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Below is the flowchart of data analysis
Source of data : a novel An Researcher American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Quote or selected text related to characteristics of
Naturalism and Tragedy toward main characters
Data selected: interpreted analysis using theories : Conclusion naturalismin literature and also by descriptive qualitative method.
23 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS AND FINDING
4.1 ANALYSIS
Naturalism believes that man is controlled by forces that come from their nature and social condition. There are external forces and internal forces in life that we cannot cope. In naturalism, those forces became the prominent enemy in individual life. Besides that, the belief that man is mere animal in the world makes a character in naturalistic novel very hard to overcome the fate. An animal is acted based on instinct without soul. That is why naturalist portrays the life with quite bleak and dark. Man is life in survival and struggle as animal do.
Dreiser saw life as determined solely by forces beyond the control of the individual, mainly heredity and environment, but also chance and the mysterious, unknowable workings of fate. Individuals do not have free will; they are merely small creatures struggling against whatever fate the inscrutable forces of life have conjured up for them. This is the key theme of the novel.
The society that is presented in An American Tragedy is relentlessly materialistic determinism. The only qualities that are admired are material wealth, prosperity, and social status as measured by power and possessions. The pursuit and the enjoyment of wealth is everything. This is the society into which Clyde
Griffiths is born. Since he rejects the religious values of his parents, the only thing that interests him is the acquisition of money and the social status he thinks this will bring him. But he is very weak and restless. He cannot change his fate because it has predetermined before. Clyde is like an animal in a jungle that
24 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA struggling and surviving in a cruel and harsh society. He cannot control his nature and depends on condition around him. In the end, he is wiped out by the social punishment and his instinctive pleasure.
4.2 FINDINGS
4.2.1 Characteristics Of Naturalism
A. Determinism
Determinism is the root of the novel, which caught the character in social- economic forces. The characters are controlled by the circumstances and environment. They failed to gain the better life because of the powerful forces that determined their behaviour. They are weak and helpless in their life. One of the characters that failed in his life was Asa Griffiths, the father of Clyde Griffiths.
―To begin with, Asa Griffiths, the father, was one of those poorly integrated and correlated organisms, the product of environment and a religious theory, but with no guiding or mental insight of his own, yet sensitive and therefore highly emotional and without any practical sense whatsoever. Indeed it would be hard to make clear just how life appealed to him, or what the true hue of his emotional responses was.‖ (Dreiser 1925:22) Asa Griffiths was too weak and unintelligent to rise above the forces in his life. In a sense, his life was written for him before he started to live it. He was merely small creatures that failed in the life. Dreiser even called him ―organism‖ which mean that a small living things in the world. As we know, organism is an unimportant creature that has no soul, brain or mind and so did Asa. He has no power to reach a better life. He was religious but nothing he could do in his everyday life. He has no peace above his beliefs. This is because of his life has been determined before. We absolutely agreed that religion is the best thing that
25 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA we have. Religion could make our heart and mind feel peace. With religion, we can have moral guiding toward the life we live. But not to Asa Griffiths, he cannot absorb the value that came from his belief. It happened because he was merely a pawn in a chess game. He was controlled by unknowable forces that determined his behaviour.
Esta Griffiths was also a character that failed to find her dream because of the force beyond her control. She ran away from home with an actor who happened to be playing in Kansas City and who took a passing fancy for her.
Although she growth in religious family, she has no moral guiding in her life.
―The truth in regard to Esta was that in spite of her guarded up- bringing, and the seeming religious and moral fervor which at times appeared to characterize her, she was just a sensuous, weak girl who did not by any means know yet she thought. Despite the atmosphere in which she moved, essentially she was not of it. Like the large majority of those who profess and daily repeat the dogmas and creeds of the world, she had come into her practices and imagined attitude so insensibly from her earliest childhood, that up to this time, and even later, she did not know the meaning of it al.‖ (Dreiser 1925: 28-29) Esta Griffiths was a product of environment. Rising up in poverty, uneducated, and amoral despite of her parent‘s religiousness, she has no moral value in her life. She was blind to understand her life. She cannot resist the temptation of her nature. She has desiring to love, to comfort, and to things that she had nothing as long as she lived. There were forces that come from inside her when she observed girls and boys in the street.
―And in herself, as from time to time she observed lovers or flirtation-seekers who linger at the street corners or about doorways, and who looked at her in a longing and seeking way, there was a stirring, a nerve plasm of palpitation that spoke
26 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA loudly for all the seemingly material things of life, not for the thin pleasantries of heaven.‖ Esta was influenced by something that she observed in the street. She was very interested about the life of another girl. That was the way how environment determined her behaviour. As a matter of fact, her longing for things or something earthy was not a free-will, but it came to her mind caused by what she had seen in other girl. Her longing for comfort was a response to the social values that occurred in the society at the time. She acted based on the value that she felt better to her. She was also victim of the biological forces which she cannot resist.
After a long time, the actor abandoned when she was pregnant. She failed to gain her dream because of the forces beyond her.
Another characteristic that failed in their live was Titus Alden. Titus was too weak and helpless in struggling his existence. He cannot raise above all the obstacle in his way. Titus Alden lived in extreme poverty and cannot even repair his house. His life was too miserable. He cannot change his fate because it has been determined before. He was an entirely ―determined‖ individual, with no power to alter his lot in life.
―As for the parents of Roberta, they were excellent examples of that native type of Americanism which resists facts and reveres illusion. Titus Alden was one of that vast company of individuals who are born, pass through and die out of the world without ever quite getting any one thing straight. They appear, blunder, and end in a fog. Like his two brothers, both older and almost as nebulous, Titus was a farmer solely because his father had been a farmer. And he was here on this farm because it had been willed to him and because it was easier to stay here and try to work this than it was to go elsewhere. He was a Republican because his father before him was a Republican and because this county was Republican. It never occurred to him to be otherwise.‖ (Dreiser 1925: 268:269)
27 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA
Titus Alden was an example of native type of Americanism which resists facts and reveres illusion. It was closely mean that people in American was never quite able to live in the reality. This happen because many people at the time has blind to the fact of life. They believe something would happen and something would make them better but they have no afford to do something. The quotation above show that many people in America lived in poverty and Titus Alden as an example of failure in American social system. He was republican because his father was republican. There was a system that tied his life and he cannot escape from it.
And so was his daughter, Roberta Alden. She also failed in her attempt to gain what she called success. Roberta was uneducated but dreaming of a way to achieve happiness. But she failed to reach all that she wanted because she cannot resist the forces from inside him. Although she was very religious, she had desire to build relationship with Clyde Griffiths. She wanted Clyde because of the social power that he saw in Clyde‘s world. Clyde was a nephew of Samuel Griffiths, the owner of the factory which she worked in. He did not know Clyde exactly. She was very interested to the position that Clyde had in the factory. She thought that he might be the person that could bring her to a higher status. Finally Clyde killed her in order to reach a better place that he saw in another girl, Sondra.
Clyde Griffiths, the main character in the novel was a youth that victimized and controlled by heredity, environment, and circumstances. He inherited his weakness from his father that would bring him to the disaster.
28 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ―This youth, aside from a certain emotionalism and exotic sense of romance which characterized him, and which he took more from his father than his mother, brought a more vivid and intelligent imagination to things, and was constantly thinking of how he might better himself, if he had a chance; places to which he might go, things he might see, and how differently he might live, if only this, that and the other things were true.‖ (Dreiser 1925:22) From the quotation above, we can see that Clyde inherited the sense of romance from his father. This is the power of heredity playing important role in
Clyde‘s life. Clyde was always dreaming about a better life and chance that might change his fate. But his parents are too busy to give him advice about the life because they are busy by the religious works.
―For Clyde‘s parents had proved impractical in the matter of the future of their children. They did not understand the importance of the essential necessity for some form of practical or professional training for each and every one of their young ones. Instead, being wrapped up by notion of evangelizing the world, they had neglected to keep their children in school in any one place.‖ (Dreiser 1925:23) Clyde‘s parents were too busy to teach their children toward the life. We can see that Clyde, a young poorly educated boy who have no moral guide toward the life he lived, dreaming the way to reach his pleasure. He was very lonely, ignorant, and expressed his life as a ―cheap‖, response to his ―shabby‖ religious parents. When he was in the street, he often compared his life to another boy as his age that had a better life.
―On this night in this great city with its cars and crowds and tall building, he felt ashamed, dragged out of normal life, to be made a show and jest of. The handsome automobiles that sped by, the loitering pedestrians moving off to what interests and comforts he could not only surmise, the gay pairs of young people. Laughing and jesting and the ―kids‖ staring, all troubled him with a sense of something different, better, more beautiful than his, or rather their life.‖ (Dreiser 1925:18) From this quotation, we can see the condition of the city of Clyde‘s live in. when another young boy enjoying their life by driving a car, people moving to
29 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA what they want and having very nice time, Clyde feel only loneliness in his un- normal life. We can see the situation in the city is really making him lonely. Clyde did not like his life.
―Incidentally by that time of sex lure or appeal had begun to manifest itself and he was already intensely interested and troubled by the beauty of the opposite sex, its attraction for him and his attraction for it. And naturally and coincidentally, the matter of his clothes and physical appearance had begun to trouble him not a little—how he looked and how the other boys looked. (Dreiser 1925:27) From the quotation above, we can see the biological forces that have begun to influence Clyde. He was sixteen years old at that time and he realized the problem in his life. This quotation also indicates how the sociological and biological power came to his life, naturally. It means that he did not know where it come from. We can see the social problem that influence Clyde was in the top. He compared himself to other boys that have a better life. He feels that his life was not in the right way and by the attraction of his inner drives, he begin to interest to the beauty. The beauty here is come from his internal drives that cannot be understood by a person.
Early in the novel, we can see that Clyde was trouble by the materialistic appearance. His clothes, goods, and beauty is has start to manifest his early life in
Kansas City. Ironically, he was a son of poor preacher and his parents were impractical to his problem. A sixteen years old boy that confronted by beauty and materialistic problem was the deterministic theme in the novel. Forced by his family‘s poverty, Clyde got a job in drug store as clerk. He was amazed by atmosphere in the drug store, a place that visited by young girls and boys.
Although his salary not really enough, he was very interested working here
30 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA because this place contained many pleasures that he dreamed along his life. In this drug sore, that visited by ―bevies of girl‖ and ―accompanying by some male in evening suit, dress shirt, high hat, bow tie, white kit gloves and patent leather shoes‖ while they ―discussing such interesting things—parties, dances, dinners, the shows they had seen, the place that they were soon going‖ were interesting enough for Clyde. Clyde felt it in a ―true distinction‖ as response to his depressing life. This place is an alternative happiness for him.
―To be able to wear such a suit with such ease and air! To be able to talk to a girl after a manner and with the sang-froid of some of these gallants! What a true measure of achievement! No good looking girl, as it then appeared to him, would have anything to do with him if he did not possess this standard of equipment. It was plainly necessary—the thing. And once he did attain it—was able to wear such clothes as these—well, was he not well set upon the path that leads to all the blisses? All the joys of life would then most certainly be spread before him.‖ (Dreiser 1925:38) From the quotation above, we can see that Clyde is gratified by the desires of beauties and material. His response to ―thing‖ was getting bigger. He felt that his life should be like the other boy did in the store. It also showed that the condition in the store was the best way to spend the life, as he thought. It was clear that Clyde was eager to gain the better life. His mind was only to reach the beauties, wealth, and fame. But he did not understand the consequences of his desires. His parents were inexperienced to the kind of world that he tried to reach.
No one could guide him.
Clyde‘s job at hotel Green-Davidson is the realization of his materialistic and his internal desires. For the first time in his life he has money in his pockets and enjoying his life. He worked here as Bellhop. He was impressed by the
31 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA luxurious atmosphere in the hotel. Clyde previously felt a thrill of glory from the drugstore. At this hotel, he absorbed the sense of money, glamour, and glory. The world of Green-Davidson brought many effects for Clyde. He absorbed the false value from the hotel while he was driven by his desires. He did not know about the false and right because he was poor in education. Besides that, his parents never gave him advice about the life in the hotel. That was the problem for Clyde.
He was just like a pawn in the chess game, ruled by the environment and his desires.
―A part of this twenty-four or thirty-two dollars as he figured it was going glimmering, apparently—eleven or twelve all told— but what of i! Would there not been twelve or fifteen or even more left? And there were his meals and his uniform. Kind heaven! What a realization of paradise! What a consummation of luxury!‖ (Dreiser1925: 49) It indicated that Clyde was very interest by the salary of the hotel. It seemed promising for his desires for money. For Clyde, money is the powerful thing to attain the wealth he desired and hotel was a picture of the paradise. It is clear that
Clyde was very attracted by the money that he would gain in the hotel. The new uniform was a symbol of superiority for him. Clyde‘s impression about the money was a respond to his restless and emptiness. He was impressed by the money that he got from the hotel quest.
―But even more than by luxury of the hotel or these youths, whom swiftly and yet surely he was beginning to decipher, Clyde was impressed by the downpour of small changes that was tumbling upon him and making a small lump in his right hand pants pocket—dimes, nickels, quarters and half-dollars even, which increased and increased even on the first day until by nine o‘clock he already had over four dollars in his pocket, and by twelve, at which hour he went off duty, he had over six and a half—as much as previously he had earned in a week.‖ (Dreiser 1927:63)
32 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA It indicated that Clyde was very interesting to the money. All that he wanted was about money because he thought that money was everything. His searching for material pleasure has found in this hotel. He was amazed by the position that he met in the hotel. His eager for wealth that he dreamed all in his life seemed to be found here. But he was inexperienced to the life within the hotel.
Money is the powerful forces in his life. He used that money to buy things to make him as attracting looking as any other well-dressed boy because appearance was important to him. He lied to his mother about the money so he could save the money for himself.
―But as long had he been haunted by the desires to make himself as attracting looking as any other well-dressed boy that, now that he had the opportunity, he could not resist the temptation to equip himself first and as speedily as possible. Accordingly, he decided to say to his mother that all of the tips he received aggregated no more than a dollar a day. And in order to give himself greater freedom of action in the matter of disposing of his spare time, he announced that frequently, in addition to the long hours demanded of him every other day, he was expected to take the place of other boys who were sick or set to doing other things. And also he explained that management demanded of all boys that they look well outside as well as inside the hotel. He could no long be seen coming to the hotel in the clothes that he now wore.‖ (Dreiser 1925:65) From the quotation above, Clyde had been affected by other boy in the hotel. The matter of clothes was really important for Clyde, as he dreamed of it.
He chose to buy clothes than to give his salary to his poor mother. The milieu in the hotel had brought many influences to Clyde. The management never demanded of such this thing to do. But the most important of this lying, aside from superiority that he felt, was his friend accepted him in their circle because he was no longer inexperienced.
33 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Hotel Green-Davidson was cruel and harsh besides its offering about luxuriousness. Here Clyde found many false values to his development. Clyde‘s relation with other bellhop that he met in bar near the hotel brought many destruction for Clyde. They are Hegglund, Ratterer, Kinsella, Doyle who was more experienced in the hotel. Clyde was not familiar to their bad habit like gambling and alcoholic, prostitution. Being pushed by his strong desires, he joined them every night and the worst thing, prostitutes. As Clyde did not have any moral guidance, he cannot resist when they invited him to the brothel house.
Although he was quite nervous, he followed them.
―The effect of this adventure on Clyde was such as might have been expected in connection with one so new and strange to such a world as this. In spite all of that deep and urgent curiosity and desire that had eventually led him to that place and caused him to yield, still, because, of the moral precepts with he had so long been familiar, and also because of the nervous aesthetic inhibitions which were characteristic of him, he could not back upon all this as decidedly degrading and sinful. His parents were probably right when they preach that this was all low and shameful. And yet this whole adventure and the world in which it was laid, once it was all over, was lit with a kind of gross, pagan beauty or vulgar charm for him. And until other and more interesting things had partially effaced it, he could not help thinking back upon it with considerable interest and pleasure even.‖ (Dreiser 1925:82) It indicated that Clyde felt shamefulness when he visited the brothel house.
He doubt to do such thing like this because it was contradicted to his parents‘ belief. But his desire was stronger than his moral lesson. He cannot resist the temptation of the beauty responded to his sexual drives. He had dreamed about it and it happened to him. And after he came to that place, he was thinking to ―find a free pagan girl of his own somewhere if he could‖ and ―spend his money on her‖.
34 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Clyde is the victim of his desires and the environment. His minds fill by the pleasure that drove him indirectly.
―The only one, apart from Sparser, who suffered any qualms in connection with all this was Clyde himself. For to him, the first, the fact that the car to be used did not belong to Sparser, but to his employer, was disturbing, almost irritatingly so. Something might happen...It might not work out right; he might lose his job through a thing like this. But so fascinated was he by the thought of riding in such a fine car with Hortense and with all these other girls and boys that he could not resist the temptation to go.‖ (Dreiser 1925:137-138) The quotation above implied that he cannot help toward his desire to riding a car. He feared at the first time because the car was not belonging to
Sparser. Clyde had been dreaming to so much about automobiles. That is why he cannot resist this force. Besides, there was Hortense, whom he was very impressed about. Riding with girls was a pleasure that he cannot deal with. It is clear that Clyde had been influenced by his milieu and unconscious need. By his milieu, that accompanying by his friend, he had changed his life. He was easily governed by his need and milieu. He cannot understand it all because his was foolish. All that he understands is only materialistic world that brought him to the disaster. Clyde, as he begins to reach a better life, was destroyed by his fate. No matter how hard he try to gain the social class. He was ending with miserable.
When Clyde and his friend return from the river with their stolen car, they hit a little girl and crushing the forest beside the road. The car is broken and his friends are wounded. Clyde try to escape from this accident, he is afraid of police that will caught them.
―and hearing the suburbanite declare quite definitely that he had nothing to do with it, that the real occupants of the car had but then run away and might yet be caught if the police wished,
35 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Clyde, who was still within earshot of what was being said, began crawling upon his hands and knees at first in the snow south, south and west, always toward some of those distant street which, lamplit and faintly glowing, he saw to the south- west of him, and among which presently, if he were not captured, he hoped to hide—to lose himself and so escape—if the fate were only kind—the misery and the punishment and the unending dissatisfaction and disappointment which now, most definitely, it all represented to him.‖ (Dreiser 1925:161) Clyde never felt satisfied about his life. All that he reaches was end with miserable. He cannot escape the fate that he had. Clyde‘s nature and early experiences became a handcuff to his life. His impression about wealth, fame and unconscious need then continued in Lycurgus. By chance, he met his uncle in a club he worked. Then his uncle invited him to work in his factory in Lycurgus.
Lycurgus was an industrial city. Many people came to this city to work in a factory as a labourer. He met Roberta in the factory. They built a secret relationship because the rule in the factory did not allow the labourer to make a relation. But they break the rule and finally he seduced Roberta at the night. Clyde met Sondra Finchley, a daughter of rich man. Sondra was the realization of his dream. He was confronted by the situation that he would reach. Sondra was connected to the high class that he dreamed early in his life, but he had a relation with Roberta, a poor working girl.
―For now in spite of his comfort in and satisfaction with Roberta, once more and in this positive and to him entrancing way, was posed the whole question of social possibilities here. And that strangely enough by the one girl of this upper level who had most materialized and magnified for him the meaning of that upper level itself. The beautiful of Sondra Finchley! Her lovely face, smart clothes, gay and superior demeanor!‖ (Dreiser 1925: 37-338) He was impressed by the position that Sondra had. But Clyde was weak to understand the condition that he faced at the time:
36 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ―So much for the effect of wealth, beauty, the peculiar social state to which he most aspired, on the temperament that was as fluid and unstable as water‖ (Dreiser 1925:338) The quotation above indicated that Clyde was driven by the material and beauty that he found in the Sondra‘s world. He was blind to know the consequences for his life. He was unstable, weak, and lack of moral training.
Desiring to attain the position such as Sondra had, he killed his pregnant girlfriend, Roberta in the lake.
It is clear that Clyde was determined by the uncontrollable forces such as inner drives and social environment. He cannot resist the temptation of his urges and drives. He was the victim of his social environment and biological forces that he cannot understand until the end of his life
―What is not also true that if he had led a better life—had paid more attention to what his mother had said and taught—not gone into that house of prostitution in Kansas city—or pursued Hortense Briggs in the evil way that he had—or after her, Roberta—had been content to work and save, as no doubt most men were—would he not be better off than he now was? But then again, there was the fact or truth of those very strong impulses and desires within himself that were so very, very hard to overcome.‖ (Dreiser 1925:843) The quotation above implied that Clyde was controlled by his impulse and desires. He cannot resist the temptation for beauties and material splendour that he saw around him. The desires that he try to reach was the enemy to his life.
Clyde until the end of his life cannot understand the forces that playing upon him.
He was the victim of the environment and biological forces that determined him to act.
―But various voices—as Clyde entered the first door to cross to the chair room, calling: ―good-by, Clyde.‖ And Clyde, with enough earthy thought and strength to reply: ―good-by, all.‖
37 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA But his voice sounding so strange and weak, even to himself, so far distant as though it emanated from another being walking along side of him, and not from himself. And his feet were walking, but automatically, it seemed. And he was conscious of that familiar shuffle—shuffle—as they pushed him on and on toward that door.‖ (Dreiser 1925:870) From this quotation we can see that Clyde was controlled by something that he did not know. It implied that his life was pushed by powers that lead him to his fate. No matter how hard he tried to fight for his fate, he would defeated by the fate. His environment and biological forces were too strong to resist. In naturalism, none of people can avoid the circumstances. Because the fate had been predetermined before, Clyde was just a pawn in a cheese game; he was ruled by sociological force and internal force.
B. Frankness
The naturalistic novel tried to be frank in portraying human life.
Naturalists set human as an animal in the world. Men were acted by their necessity such as fear, hunger, and sex. Naturalist tried to show the life as it was or nothing to hide. That was the reason that naturalism saw the negative side of life. Naturalists strived to frank in human life.
Prostitution showed clearly in the novel when Clyde worked in Green-
Davidson hotel. In the hotel, the quest and the worker make a relationship.
―Thus a youth named Ratterer—a Hall-boy here—sitting beside him the very next afternoon, seeing a trim, well-formed blonde woman of about thirty enter with a small dog upon her arm, and much bedecked with furs, first nudge him and, with a faint motion of the head indicating her vicinity, whispered, ―see her? There‘s a swift one. I‘ll tell you about her sometimes when I have time. Gee, the things she don‘t do!‖ ―What about her?‖ asked Clyde, keenly curious, for to him she seemed exceedingly beautiful, most fascinating. ―Oh nothing, except she‘s been in with about eight different men around here since I‘ve been here. She fell for Doyle‖—
38 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA another hall-boy whom by this time Clyde had already observed as being the quintessence of Chesterfieldian grace and airs and looks, a youth who imitate—―for a while, but now she‘s got someone else.‖ ―Really?‖ inquired Clyde, very much astonished and wondering if such luck would ever come to him. ―Surest thing you know,‖ went on Ratterer. ―She‘s a bird that way—never gets enough. Her husband, they tell me, has a big lumber business somewhere over in Kansas, but they don‘t live together no more. She has one of the best suites on the sixth, but she ain‘t in it half the time. The maid told me.‖ The quotation above implied that there was a veiled prostitution between the quest and the worker in the hotel. The women symbolized with a ―bird‖, an animal that escape from the cage. This quotation also showed that men were just like animal. Like an animal, men cannot control the internal desires. Ironically,
Clyde felt interested about the story even he wished for luck to be with the women. Clyde and other workers once went to the prostitution at night. Clyde cannot resist this temptation.
―At the same time, being confronted by this problem of how soon they would be wanting to go to a place into which he had never ventured before, and to be doing things which he had never let himself think he would do in just this way, he was just a little disturbed. Had he not better excuse himself after they go outside, or perhaps, after starting along with them in whatsoever direction they chose to go, quietly slip away at some corner and return to his own home? For had he not already heard that the most dreadful of diseases were occasionally contracted in just such places—and that men died miserable deaths later because of low vices begun in this fashion? He could hear his mother lecturing concerning all this—yet scarcely any direct knowledge of any kind. And yet, as an argument per contra, here were all of these boys in nowise disturbed by what was in their minds or moods to do.‖ (Dreiser 1925: 74) At first, Clyde was worried and fear about the place that they headed. He was afraid because his mother had told him that prostitution was sinful and shameful. Moreover, the prostitution was a place that contained diseases. He was
39 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA worried about it. But he cannot resist his internal nature. He joined with other men to the prostitution.
Clyde‘s hunger for pleasure were later he found in Lycurgus, with a factory girl named Roberta and a rich girl, Sondra Finchley. Clyde was never stop due to his desires. His unconscious‘ need had overpowering his life. He had no power to resist the temptation of that longing. He never learnt from the lesson. He was controlled by his desires.
―He had Roberta now. These relations, in so far as either of them could see, or guess, were a dark secret. The pleasures of this left-handed honeymoon were at full tide. And the remaining brisk and often sunshiny and warm November and first December days passed—as in a dream, really—an ecstatic paradise of sorts in the very center of a humdrum conventional and pretty and underpaid work-a-day world.‖ (An American Tragedy, 1925: 330) The quotation above pointed out about Clyde‘s relationship with Roberta.
His cousin did not allow him to do that relationship. But he broke the rules and undergone a dark secret with Roberta. They were not married but having relation like a husband to wife. And it was pleased him at that moment. In other word, his sexual desire released to Roberta. Clyde was a man who drove by his longing and pleasure. He also amazed by the wealth of Sondra Finchley. Sondra was a high- class girl who owned a factory.
―For now in spite of his comfort in and satisfaction with Roberta, once more and in this positive and to him entrancing way, was posed the whole question of his social possibilities here. And that strangely enough by the one girl of this upper level who had most materialized and magnified for him the meaning of the upper level itself. The beautiful Sondra Finchley! Her lovely face, smart clothes, gay, and superior demeanor.‖ (An American Tragedy, 1925: 337-338)
40 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Sondra was an intensification of Clyde‘s longing when he was in hotel Green-
Davidson. he loved Sondra because she was an evident that he had dreamed such as luxury, wealth, and fame. It was clear that Clyde was a victim of his desires. It brought him to the disaster.
Naturalism emphasized the negative-sides of life and described it as it was. It can be seen very clearly in the novel. As example, the atmosphere in the hotel was very cruel, harsh, and brutal. The environment in the hotel indirectly gave us the image that pleasure, fame, and wealth were united to create or to form human beast.
C. Pessimism
Naturalism is pessimistic toward the fate of man. It happened because the role of determinism that playing in the man world. The unknowable forces and social forces determined a man to behave. Pessimism believed that we cannot change the fate. Man has no free-will in the world.
In this novel, Clyde never has free-will in his life. From the beginning of the novel, his act is determined by the external and internal power. His desire for materialistic world is not really his will. It is because money is the only one value operating around him. The class structure there is defined by money. No one in
Clyde‘s world discusses other values other than materialistic one. No one reflects at all any deeper aspects of life. Clyde felt that money is the only power the build a life. When Clyde walked in the street, he is impressed by the situation there. He sees man and girls with fashionable dresses, the cars, the wraps, furs, and other goods that belonging to them he observed. He thinks it is the real life. But he does not know exactly how to gain it.
41 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ―And yet the world was so full of so many things to do—so many people were so happy and so successful. What was he to do? Which way to turn? What one thing to take up and master—something that would get him somewhere. He could not say. He did not know exactly. And these peculiar parents were in no way sufficiently equipped to advise him.‖ (Dreiser 1925:28)
Clyde lived in extreme poverty. But he has dreaming so many things that will make him happy. He has been longing for pleasure and wealth which other people have it. But he never understands the way to get what he wants.
Clyde feels uncertainty in in his life. He is hopeless and suffers for he is living in society which never makes a way for him. His parents also cannot help him because they have no experience and practical matter. They never teach their children or giving advice to do things. Clyde has no direction in his life.
Naturalists believe that pessimism happen because the assumption that man is animal in the world that controlled by forces and nature. Man is victimized by his nature and forces. This assumption is the powerful things that happen in
Clyde‘s life. His nature is bigger than his impulses so that he never learns from his experience.
―For to say the truth, Clyde had a soul that not destined to grow up. He lacked decidedly that mental clarity and inner directing application that in so many permits them to sort out from the facts and avenues of life the particular thing or things that make for their direct advancement.‖ (Dreiser 1925:189)
From this quotation, we can see that Clyde is never had a soul. He lives just like other creatures. He has no mental power that is important in life. How man could live without the soul? It is because the man is equal to other living
42 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA creatures in the world. This is the important thing in the naturalistic work that quite pessimistic in creating the characters.
Here we can see that Clyde is a man who has no soul that living in the materialistic world. There are too many forces ranged against him. He never get what he has hope so long because of his uncontrollable nature and all forces around that lead him to the death. His life is full of miseries. Even in his last hour before the electrocution, he did not find the mental peace although his religious mother and the preacher have given him spiritual supports. He never find the happiness and peace that he has dream.
―Was he truly saved? The time was so short? Could he rely on God with that absolute security which he had just announced now characterized him? Could he? Life was so strange. The future so obscure. Was there really the life after death—a God by whom he would be welcomed as the reverend McMillan and his own mother insist? Was there? (Dreiser 1925:868)
Clyde, even in his final situation, has no peace in his life. He doubts about the God that his mother praying to. He did not understand his life and never take lesson from condition. He is suffering in his life. His fate has been predetermined before and. And he has been seen it long before in the prison.
―Now it was here; now it was being open. There it was—at last—the chair he had so often seen in his dreams—that he so dreaded—to which he know compelled to go. He was being pushed toward that—into that –on—on through the door which was now open—to receive him—but which was as quickly closed again on all the earthy life he had ever known.‖ (Dreiser 1925:870) The quotation above implied that his fate has been determined before. He has been seen the electrocution chair in his dream. The death chair is his fate.
43 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA There is nothing he can do toward his fate. No matter how hard he tries, he will end in the death.
4.2.2 Tragedy As The Effect Of Naturalism
In naturalistic novel, tragedy is always happen to the main character. In this novel the tragedy happen to protagonist, Clyde Griffiths. He experiences a tragic ending that is death. This is happen because of his nature and environment.
This is happen because the powerful forces that he cannot cope. Internal forces such as fear and sexual desires that dominate his life are the real enemy for him.
He cannot resist the temptation of those forces. External forces such as milieu, poverty and social power are the most important forces that lead him to the death.
Clyde grows up in the poverty, poorly educated but passionate to climb up the social status. He seeks to find a solution for his loneliness and miserable life. by chance, he gets job in hotel Green Davidson and socialize with other worker in the hotel. The hotel is very cruel and harsh. Here he absorbs the wrong value of life such as prostitution and drunk. He also impresses by the tip from the hotel quest. He thinks that money is the only thing that matter in his life. But Clyde never learns about his development because of his animal nature that make him blind. He never understand the forces that playing upon him. He cannot control his nature and caused him to seduce his mate, Roberta Alden. Meanwhile, he makes a relationship with Sondra Finchley, the daughter of wealthy man. He thinks that Sondra is the solution for his loneliness and can bring him the higher position. Fear of losing his position in the factory and his connection to Sondra
Finchley, he plot to kill Roberta because she forces him to marry and responsible for her baby.
44 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Technically, Clyde does not kill Roberta because her death not as he has plotted. So, Roberta is dead in a sense of accidental. The only problem is that he does not want to help her because a voice on his ear forbids him to help her. The police arrest him and put him in jail. He is charged with murder and sentenced to death penalty. As a matter of fact, he should not be accuses to death penalty. The prosecuting attorney, Orville Mason, wants to win the conviction solely to boost his sagging political fortunes. For Mason, the trial is more of a political campaign than a legal proceeding. Mason‘s assistant, Burton Burleigh, plans to incriminate evidence to against Clyde. He takes two hairs from the dead Roberta and entangles them to Clyde‘s camera, to prove that Clyde hits Roberta with the camera.
Clyde, until the last minute of his life feels the loneliness. He fails to achieve what he calls success. He is the victim of uncontrollable forces that come from his nature. He is also the pawn of the social punishment and political situation. It is clear that his tragic life has been determined before by his fate.
45 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER V
CONLUSION AND SUGGESTION
After analyzing the data, the writer has conclusion and suggestion related to the result of the previous chapters. In this chapter, the researcher presents the conclusion of the whole analysis. This chapter contains the conclusion based on the result of the analysis and the relevant suggestion for the further researcher related to this study.
5.1 Conclusion
Based on the analysis, I came upon the following conclusion for my objective of my study.
1. The Characteristics of Naturalism
There are three characteristics of naturalism that found in the novel, those are determinism, frankness, and pessimism. Determinism is a belief that the character is controlled by forces beyond his power. The external and internal power is the dominant forces that make the character helpless. In the novel, external forces is presented by the poverty, social condition, and political situation. The internal forces are presented by the passion and instinct. Then, frankness to portraying human being as animal driven that assumes that man is an animal in the life.
Frankness is presented in the novel such as sexual desires. The main character is longing for the sexual fulfillment. Pessimism is the belief that man is unable to gain a better life because the faith has been determined before. In the novel, the main character has no free-will in his life and it seems that his fate has been determined by his forces and environment.
46 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 2. Tragedy as the Effect of Naturalism
Tragedy is the most important role in the naturalistic novel. Terrible thing must happen to the main character. It is because the incapability of man to control the forces and the nature. These external and internal forces are very powerful to dominate the man. Naturalists believe that man cannot survive and cannot overcome this situation. So, tragedy is happening purely by the nature of man. In the novel, the main character is very difficult to control the internal forces and external forces. The main character also confronted in the cruel and harsh condition. This condition leads the main character to the tragic life. no matter how hard he try to survive, he will found in the tragic life.
5.2 Suggestion
The thesis that is done by the writer is not a complete thesis because study of literature will never come to an end. This thesis needs to the further study that will develop it in the next time. So, the writer suggests to all the readers or researchers who read the An American Tragedy novel, this novel is very interesting to be read and study, especially by the students of English Literature in order to widen to knowledge about naturalism. Also, to all the readers and researchers, this thesis will expand the knowledge of literature, particularly the characteristic of naturalism, about the tragedy of the character in a novel that has various characteristic and themes which are interesting to be research. Finally, the writer hopes this thesis can be useful to develop the disciplines on the study of literature and enrich the study of literature in the future.
47 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA REFERENCES
Abrams, M.H.1998. A Glossary of Literary Term. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Aldridge, John.1983. The American Novel and The Way They Live Now. New York: Oxford University Press.
Aziez, Furqunol & Abdul Hasim.2010. Menganalisis Fiksi. Bogor: Ghalia Indonesia
Beaumont, Matthew.2010. A Concise Companion to Realism. United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.
Chase, Richard.1979. The American Novel and Its Tradition. New York: Gordian Press. Dreiser, Theodore. 1948. An American Tragedy. Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company. George & Barbara Perkins.2002. The American Tradition in Literature Volume 2. New York: McGraw Hill. Gustia, imelda. 2010. ‖The Elements Of Naturalism In Theodore Dreiser‟s Jennie Gerhardt. Medan: Fakultas Ilmu Budaya, Universitas Sumatera Utara. Herzog, Max. 1966. The Reader‟s Encyclopedia of American literature. New York: Thomas J. Cornwell Company. Kazin, Alfred.1973. On Native Ground, An Interpretation of Modern American Prose Literature. New York: Harcourt, race, and world, Inc. Kenney, William, 1996. How to Analyze Fiction.New York: Monarch Press. Klarer, Mario. 1999. An Introduction to Literary Studies. London: Routledge. Leary, Lewis.1980. American Literature to 1900. London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Limited. Muchtar, Muhizar et.al. 2012. PedomanPenulisanSkripsi.Medan: FIB USU.
Ratna, NyomanKutha. 2004. Teori, Metode, dan TeknikPenelitianSastra. Yogyakarta; PustakaPelajar.
48 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Reginanita, Yusiana. 2012. ―The Aspects of Naturalism in Stephen Crane‟s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets”. Skripsi, Yogyakarta: Fakultas Bahasa dan Sastra, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta.
Taylor, Walter Fuller. 1936. A History of American Letters, Boston: American Book Company.
Wellek, Rene & Austin Warren. 1962. Theory of Literature. New York: Harcourt, Brace&World, Inc.
Yursriana, Erni. 2003. Naturalism As Reflected in Stephen Crane‟s Short story The Open Boat”. Skripsi. Surakarta: Fakultas Ilmu Budaya, Universitas Sebelas Maret.
49 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA
APPENDICES i. Auto’s Biography and Works
Theodore Dreiser was born in 1871 in Terre Haute, Indiana, the twelfth of thirteen children born to Sarah and Johann Dreiser. His father was a German immigrant, who became proprietor of a wool mill, but the mill was burned down in 1869, and he was seriously injured. During the 1870s the German-speaking family was poor and had to move from place to place. By the time he was sixteen, Dreiser had lived in five different locations in Indiana. In spite of his interrupted education— he left school at sixteen and did odd jobs—he had already developed a love of books and read Hawthorne, Poe, Emerson, Longfellow, and other American and
British authors. He studied for a year at Indiana University (1889-90), and then in
1892 became a reporter for the Chicago Globe. The same year he moved to St.
Louis where he worked for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and later the St. Louis
Republic. In 1894 he moved to New York and worked as a journalist.
Dreiser married Sara White, a schoolteacher, in 1899, but the marriage was not a happy one and the couple separated in 1909. Meanwhile, Dreiser had published his first novel, Sister Carrie, about the rise and fall of a working-class girl, in
1900. Lacking support from the publisher, the novel sold poorly, but achieved more success when it was republished in 1907, garnering good reviews and better sales.
In 1911, he published his second novel, Jennie Gerhardt, about a young woman exploited by a senator, and then a number of novels in the space of a few years:
The Financier (1912), The Titan (1914), based on the real-life story of an
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American business tycoon, and the semi-autobiographical The ―Genius‖ (1915).
But it was not until the publication of An American Tragedy in 1925 that Dreiser achieved full recognition for his work as the leading voice in the American naturalistic literary movement. The book is based on an actual murder case that happened in 1906 in New York, when a man named Chester Gillette drowned his pregnant girlfriend in a lake. Gillette was executed in 1908. An American Tragedy sold well, although it was also controversial, being banned in Boston. It was made into a movie in 1931 and again in 1951, under the title, A Place in the Sun, starring Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. In 2005, the novel was adapted as an opera by Tobias Picker and performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New
York.
Dreiser continued to publish a range of works, including stories, essays, novels, and travel books, but without repeating the success of An American Tragedy. He died in Hollywood, California, of heart failure on December 28, 1945. Two of his novels, The Bulwark (1946) and The Stoic (1947) were published posthumously.
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ii. Summary
An American Tragedy is Dreiser‘s best work in his life. This is also the best naturalistic novel in America. This novel tells about a young man who pursuit the sense of happiness. But he never fulfills his dream because of many forces that determined him. Clyde Griffiths lives in an extreme poverty family and his parents never give him advice or some moral lesson. Clyde is a weak man who lives in a society which respects the only one value, which is money. As Clyde thinks, money is the important thing to pursuit the happiness; power, wealth and love. By chance he get job in hotel Green-Davidson. This hotel described as cruel and harsh environment. Clyde has no experience about the social life in the hotel and easily absorbs its wrong value like prostitution, drunk, greed. But ironically, he never think either it is wrong and right. Finally when Clyde and his friends riding a stolen car, an accident happens as they hit a young girl. He run away because he feared this accident will place him to the jail.
Then by chance he met his wealthy uncle, Samuel Griffiths that offering him a position in Samuel‘s factory, Griffiths Collar Company in Lycurgus, New
York. Here he meets Roberta Alden, a labourer in his uncle‘s factory. He built secret relationship with Roberta because the factory rule that forbid the labourers to give attention to other labourer. Unable to control his sexual desire, he seduced
Roberta at a night. While they undergo this evil relationship, Clyde meets Sondra
Finchley, the daughter of wealthy man and related to his uncle. As Clyde think,
Sondra is the realization of his dreams; power, wealth, and beauty. Clyde and
Sondra then build a relationship. Roberta insists Clyde to marry her because she is pregnant. Confronted by his fear of losing the position and his way to reach
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Sondra, he plotted to kill Roberta. He invites Roberta come to the lake by boat. As a matter of fact, he changes his mind to not to kill her at the last minute before
Roberta fall to the water.
Technically, he does not kill Roberta but he did not want to save her. The boat is unstable because he accidentally strikes the camera on her face and throws her back side wise toward the left wale which causes the boat to careen to the very water‘s edge. They are throwing to the water. And the left wale of the boat as it turned, striking Roberta on the head. Roberta‘s death is not like he has plotted. He run away to Sondra before the police arrests him. He puts him in a jail before the court. But Clyde‘s case is an advantage for political advantage. , the prosecuting attorney, Orville Mason, wants to win a conviction solely to boost his sagging political fortunes. He emerges from the trial as a hero and gets what he really wants—election to a judgeship. For him, the trial is more of a political campaign than a legal proceeding. Although Mason does nothing illegal in his handling of the case, that is not true of his assistant, Burton Burleigh, who plants incriminating evidence against Clyde. He takes two hairs from the dead Roberta and entangles them in Clyde‘s camera, thus ―proving‖ that Clyde hit Roberta with the camera. Burleigh does this because he is convinced of Clyde‘s guilt and does not want him to evade justice. Finally Clyde charges with murder and sentence to death by electrocution chair.
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